


Demons in the Dark

by Tiff_Firestarter



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Enemies, Late Night Conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiff_Firestarter/pseuds/Tiff_Firestarter
Summary: A silent struggle exists in the mind of Tiffany Butcher and occasionally it lets itself show and, on this occasion, it's late at night. Within the backdrop of darkness, everything's a little bit more sombre. Unfortunately for Tiffany, this vulnerable moment is hijacked by Dotty who berates her as they compare lives on the Square and their current circumstances, featuring awkward pauses and little digs throughout.
Kudos: 5





	Demons in the Dark

**Demons in the Dark**

The wind whispered with secrets untold and untouched, the world had been forced into darkness and succumbed to its routinely nightfall. The solitary brightness of the moon was the sole arbiter of the small space between light and dark where the day was not quite finished but a new day was not ready to start. Around Walford, the emerging rarity of silence was becoming more and more prevalent.

And then, there was Tiffany Butcher. Situated on the curb outside of the Vic, her sobs echoed and dispersed into the moonlight. Occasionally, the unheard sniff created some variety but unheard everything would stay, or so she thought.

As the heavy, thick black mascara dripped down her face onto the curb, she traced her finger amongst the many cracks in the broken and bruised surface. Bruised by the steps of someone before her, the mascara clung onto her face but, as the tears continued at an accelerating rate, she’d have been sure that some drips of mascara definitely fell onto the curb if her eyes weren’t so full of blurred tears.

She could hardly even make out the outline of anything important, the different hues of grey blurred into an even more uncertain shade of just one. “Ooh, someone’s having a bad day.”

With a jolt, Tiffany looked up and mustered a glare. Her worst fears were only confirmed, the haughty and condescending tone belonged to none other than Dotty Cotton.

“Oh, I bet you’re just loving this,” Tiffany sneered, Dotty’s nonchalant shrug didn’t exactly do her any favours in confirming otherwise. Dotty still had a smirk splashed all over her face as she perched herself aside Tiffany.

“I wouldn’t be out here crying and wearing that, that’s all I’m saying.” Tiffany looked down at her outfit, to her, it was just a simple navy dress, sequins running from beginning to end, almost like they were made to shimmer in the moonlight. The lingering silence hung over the air; their equally unsure eyes traced specific sections of their clothes as neither knew how to end the reign of silence.

The bright red tinting of Dotty’s outfit was something Tiffany’s eyes were fixated on, it was a more muted version of maroon, there was nothing particularly exciting about the dress either, she recognised it off of Kush’s stall and thought it was kind of tacky because of the huge zipper in the middle of the dress. Silently smiling as a sign of unknown kudos, she took some solace in the gentle fact that Dotty draped a black jacket over it.

Getting bored of the cheap material and no longer mesmerised by the movements of her outfit that drifted with the way of the wind, she looked up at Dotty and spoke. “So why exactly are you still ‘ere? I’m not taking your bait.” Resisting the urge to add an additional finger gun as an act of defiance, she felt her expression shaded with anger and her bated breath tinged with bitterness would get the message clearly across.

“Well, you seem to have nothing else to do and I actually went clubbing, maybe I just wanted to see what the circus was doing.” The haughty tone was one still ever present in Dotty’s voice but then she followed it up with something unusual, a sigh (full of at least some human compassion). “Hmm, maybe I just want to check that you’re okay.” The compassion in that sentence was counterproductive when coupled with Dotty grimacing after saying it, almost like it truly pained her.

“I’m not okay!” It almost jumped out of nowhere, Dotty’s refined expression didn’t match her inner shock at Tiffany’s whine. “I just feel like…where do I fit in this world? Mum’s not around me and my dad has all but abandoned me,” Tears began welling up in Tiffany’s eyes, “And with Keeg…sometimes, I can’t speak to him about it.”

Dotty scoffed, but let her continue.

“He has so much family around him and they’ve accepted me as one of their own. It’s hard when we’re so distant anyway, but I feel like I’m complaining about nothing. And…Sonia’s nice but she’s not my mum, you know?” Tiffany’s expression almost made Dotty feel a little bit bad for her as she continued her tirade, slowly edging in a squeakier tone. “They promised to be there for me! I remember holding onto him so tightly begging for him not to leave in this Square and _her_ ,” There was a lot more venom creeping out now, “Always here for Whitney and I’m the afterthought, she missed my wedding and she promised, she promised to be there!”

Before Tiffany descended into a sobbing mess, Dotty spoke up (as considerate as she could do). “My dad’s dead, murdered.” Now, there were some tears that formed in Dotty’s eyes but she became so accustomed to pushing them down that they disappeared almost as quickly as they had begun to form. “And yours? Is just a deadbeat. Get a grip.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes but there was true hatred in her voice, “You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you? You don’t get it. This was my home for years, I grew up here, you were here for hardly any time and left. My family home is over there and now they’re either dead or hardly around.”

The next two minutes of silence for Tiffany served as a mournful moment of what she had lost. Whereas for Dotty, she needed to calculate her next move. There was no reason to sit here and continue to glare at Tiffany when she could go anywhere else and yet, a strange part of her felt almost compelled.

“Listen, I get it’s hard…especially for you.” Tiffany looked up with daggers in her eyes, so Dotty continued before she could butt in. “But uh,” Dotty hesitated, biting her lip so hard that it could’ve gushed blood. “I’m not good at this feeling stuff but constantly having your family thrown back in your face, it’s…” The ending caught in her throat when it dawned on her that Tiffany and she were like night and day.

One clamoured for family and would embrace all expectations of them, the other wanted an escape from all the evil within.

“I don’t get it,” Tiffany mused, pouting her lip as she looked anywhere but at Dotty’s grimace. “I mean I remember Nick but that doesn’t reflect badly on you,” For a moment, a truce was drawn as for once the girls flashed a smile at each-other. But it was not to last, “You’re already bad enough on your own.”

“Yeah and you married into the poorest family on the Square, I guess you have to keep to your low level.” Tiffany would’ve just merely ignored the dig and put it down to the amount of alcohol that Dotty’s breath stank of but her pounding headache began to impair her senses.

“Hmm, remember when you said no one would marry a ginger like me? You were wrong,” While Tiffany’s triumph wasn’t lost on Dotty, she was more focused on attempting to actually remember the memory. “Just like you are - !”

“Nope,” She turned to Tiffany, seemingly uncaring about interrupting her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Doesn’t sound like me.” Tiffany glared at Dotty yet again, Dotty’s cocked her head to the side and grinned, knowing exactly what she was doing. “And it’s not exactly a happy marriage.”

“Typical you, why don’t you just go away already? Don’t you have someone else to terrorise?”

The slinging of insults had lost a lot of impact because of the small moments of vulnerability, Dotty sighed. “Alright, I guess you’re not all bad. I mean, look at us now, young women in the world without any family screwing us up further and further.”

Tiffany watched as Dotty didn’t hesitate to let the bitterness seep into her and let it consume her, “Family’s not good for _nothing_ anyway, we’ve turned out great considering what they’ve put us through or well…at least mildly passable.” Dotty’s fingernails scratched into the curb at an erratic rate, something Tiffany hadn’t realised until now. “Struggles build character,” Dotty was looking off into the distance as her fingernail scraped past the same spot over and over again, blood was spewing out but Dotty didn’t pay it any attention.

With some warmth and a chuckle, Tiffany attempted to not show any signs of being off put by the blood splattering itself onto the curb. “Oh, so that’s why you put me in a bin, all makes sense now.”

“I guess I was jealous of your family unit.” There was a lot of truth in Dotty’s statement, Tiffany’s mind was seeking to register it before Dotty guffawed in an effort to conceal her true feelings. “You’re so gullible, imagine believing that.”

“You’re actually such a cow.” Tiffany groaned, “Do you get off on being like this or something?”

Dotty let out a laugh at this, not to conceal anything, just because it took her by surprise. “I get off on realising that you’re actually just as messed up as me.” And with that final concluding comment, the sound of Dotty’s heels faded as she stood up and strode off and that left Tiffany alone, once again.

And, just as she got used to the sad silence, her phone buzzed in her pocket. “ _At least you never have to be around that rat, Ian Beale_.” – Dotty.

Tiffany was confused by the seemingly random mention of her great uncle but shrugged, “It’s the small victories that count.”

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: @TiffFirestarter
> 
> this was a flop but i wrote it super quickly! There's a lot of EE references in this and I'm not sure when exactly it would take place but sometime in March 2020 because of the whole ending linking Dotty with Ian and the hatred there.
> 
> There's some contrast between the girls that just worked its way in and I didn't plan for it, like the way Tiffany only traces the curb with her fingers while Dotty digs her in reinforces how one is a much softer individual and the other has to become a more hardened one, there's also blood imagery a bit more than I thought, which I didn't plan to do.
> 
> There are probably mistakes in this because proofreading, who does that?


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